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Billing and subscription FAQ#

This FAQ covers BSR subscription plans (Community, Teams, Pro, and Enterprise). For the canonical plan comparison and current pricing, see buf.build/pricing.

Plans and limits#

What plans does Buf offer?#

The BSR has four plans: Community, Teams, Pro, and Enterprise. For features and pricing per plan, see buf.build/pricing.

Are there restrictions for private repositories?#

Community organizations may have one private repository with up to 100 types. Teams and Pro organizations have unlimited private repositories with no limits on the number of types.

Are there restrictions for public repositories?#

No. Every plan allows unlimited public repositories with an unlimited number of types and collaborators. On the public BSR (Community and Teams), public repositories don’t count toward billing. On Pro, public repositories within your private instance are still billed; the “public” visibility is scoped to the instance. For the canonical billing scope, see buf.build/pricing. For Enterprise billing, contact your Buf representative.

Are there plugin restrictions?#

Every plan can use Buf-managed plugins through remote plugins and generated SDKs. Pro and Enterprise organizations can also create unlimited hosted custom plugins.

What restrictions apply to the Community plan?#

  • Limited to one private repository. If you already have one, you can’t create another.
  • The single private repository is limited to 100 types. A repository over 100 types becomes read-only after a downgrade.
  • After canceling a paid subscription, every private repository in the organization becomes read-only. You can read and import them as dependencies but can’t push to them.

To lift these limits, see Upgrade options.

Types and usage#

What counts as a billable type?#

A billable type is a Protobuf message, enum, or RPC. On Community and Teams (public BSR), public repositories don’t count toward billing. On Pro, all types within your private instance are billed, including those in public repositories within the instance. For the canonical definition, see buf.build/pricing.

How is types usage averaged across a billing cycle?#

Buf bills on the time-weighted average of types in your organization across the cycle. Adding types mid-cycle prorates against the days remaining; the same applies to removals.

For example, with 100 types at the start of the cycle and 50 added halfway through, the bill reflects 125 types.

What happens if I exceed the types in my plan?#

Buf sends an email alert to organization administrators when usage crosses the configured threshold. You can set or change the threshold on the usage dashboard. There’s no hard cap; usage continues to be billed at the per-type rate for your plan.

How do I reduce my bill?#

See Manage subscription costs for two patterns: depending on BSR-hosted modules instead of vendoring, and moving non-sensitive types to public repositories.

Billing and payments#

How does billing work?#

Subscriptions bill monthly. Each cycle, Buf sends an invoice to the billing email on the account; you can also view invoices and the billing date on the Subscription page in your account settings under View Billing Info.

What payment methods are supported?#

Teams and Pro accept credit card payments only, charged through self-service checkout. For Enterprise pricing, proposals, and purchase orders, contact the Buf team.

What happens if my payment fails?#

A failed payment triggers a one-billing-cycle grace period. Buf sends an email after each failed attempt with the subject Action Required - Credit Card Payment Failed and the unpaid invoice attached. If the invoice still isn’t paid at the end of the grace period, the subscription downgrades to Community and paid features are disabled.

  • Confirmation of paid invoices.
  • Notification of payment failures.
  • Usage overage alerts.

Can I pay annually?#

Annual billing is currently available on Enterprise only. If annual billing for Teams or Pro would be useful, let us know.

Will I receive a prorated refund if I downgrade or cancel?#

No. Prorated refunds aren’t offered. A downgrade or cancellation takes effect immediately, and the new plan (or Community, on cancellation) applies from then on.

Will my subscription auto-renew?#

Yes. Subscriptions automatically renew at the end of the term using the original payment method unless you cancel.

Upgrading and downgrading#

What upgrade options are available for the Community plan?#

  • Upgrade to Teams: keep your existing private repositories and gain unlimited private repositories with unlimited types.
  • Upgrade to Pro: get a private BSR instance at <org>.buf.dev. See the migration guide for the full setup.
  • Convert private repositories to public: public repositories aren’t subject to the Community-plan limit and don’t count toward billing. Once your private footprint fits the Community limit (one repository, up to 100 types), the remaining private repository becomes writable again.

How do I upgrade to a Teams plan?#

For step-by-step instructions, see Upgrade to Teams.

How do I upgrade to a Pro plan?#

Pro provides a private BSR instance with a dedicated <org>.buf.dev subdomain and SAML/OIDC SSO. For step-by-step instructions, see Upgrade to Pro.

How do I downgrade or cancel my subscription?#

Enterprise customers should contact the Buf sales team for downgrades.

For Pro and Teams, the steps are:

  1. Update your organization to fit the limits of the target plan. For Pro → lower tiers, that includes migrating modules off the private instance back to the public BSR; see Migrating when downgrading from Pro. Depending on the target plan, you may also need to change repositories from private to public to fit the new private-repository limits.
  2. Open your organization’s Billing page and click Cancel Subscription at the bottom.
  3. If you’re downgrading rather than canceling outright, resubscribe to the target plan immediately afterward.

After cancellation:

  • Teams customers fall under the Community plan limits immediately.
  • Pro customers retain access to their private BSR instance for one week to export data; the instance is then deleted.

You’ll be invoiced for prorated usage up to the cancellation date.

Accounts and access#

Do I need an account to use the BSR?#

Yes. Sign up at buf.build/pricing. Once authenticated, you can be added as an organization member or repository collaborator.

Are there paid plans for individual users?#

No, only organizations subscribe to paid plans today. For the features in Teams or Pro, create an organization and subscribe under it.

Are there member limits per plan?#

No. Every plan supports an unlimited number of organization members and repository collaborators.

Does Buf support IP-based access in place of per-user accounts?#

The Enterprise plan provides an isolated single-tenant instance suitable for environments where managing individual user accounts isn’t practical. For details, contact Buf sales.

Can I download my schemas if I cancel my subscription?#

Yes. Export at any time with buf export.

Support#

What support channels are available?#

Buf Teams and Pro users have access to dedicated and priority support. Every Buf user, including those on Community, has access to the Buf Slack channels for community support. For escalation paths and the right contact for a given question, see the contact page.